Chapter 713 - Arabian Nights
Arabian Nights
Translator: 549690339
The palace was calm and peaceful. Emperor Yong Ping was grieving over Consort He Shu’s death. He stopped court for three days and ordered the spirits to stop for twenty-one days. All the concubines below the consort rank went to mourn.
With Emperor Yong Ping personally demonstrating, he would wake up earlier than the chicken and sleep later than the chicken every day. In any case, all kinds of people took the lead. Many ministers and censors wrote memorials to Emperor Yong Ping to express their condolences, afraid that he would follow in the footsteps of the previous emperor and go crazy.
Fortunately, the most terrifying thing did not happen.
Although Emperor Yong Ping wasn’t in a good state after the court session, at least he didn’t cry like the previous emperor.
It was still within the normal range.
However, the calmness was only on the surface and did not reach the surface. After a few days of thinking, Emperor Yong Ping finally made up his mind to investigate the death of Consort He Shu. However, he would not be at ease if he were to hand this matter over to Imperial Concubine Chu or Empress Xiao. He decided to let his subordinate, Duo Fu, handle it single-handedly and report all the relevant clues to him.
In the end, she really went after Xie Xian’s original words. Wherever she investigated, she would die. In the end, she could only find out that the little eunuch who hanged himself was sent by Empress Xiao when she first entered
the palace.
However, this was not evidence. The people that Empress Xiao had sent out were more or less chased out by Consort He Shu with various excuses and did not stay in her palace. Only this little eunuch and her personal palace maids had risen all the way and were very favored by Consort He Shu.
Emperor Yong Ping had reason to believe that the two people that Consort He Shu left behind were most likely from the He family in the palace.
In fact, Empress Xiao did not have any arrangements in the palace. After all, the Xiao family was far away from the power center of Jiankang City. It was just that when Emperor Yu Heng chose a princess for him, there were no unmarried ladies of the same age in the various aristocratic families. The Xiao family could be said to be a blank sheet of paper in Jiankang City, especially in the everchanging harem. Consort He Shu’s power might even be deeper and wider than
Empress Xiao.
Empress Xiao could only rely on the Xie family.
But the Xie family would do their best for Empress Xiao, and they wouldn’t
have fallen into someone else’s trap and miscarried.
It was obvious that either the Xie family had no one in the harem, or the Xie family had not given their power to Empress Xiao.
The former was like a tiger declaring that it was a vegetarian. It was a pure fantasy.
Emperor Yong Ping was naturally more inclined to the latter, so Empress Xiao was the least suspicious of Consort He Shu’s incident. Of course, he couldn’t completely rule it out. In fact, Emperor Yong Ping did not trust anyone now.
Be it Xie Xian, the Empress, the Grand Empress Dowager, the Prince of Huaiyang, the Prince of Jiangxia, or even the Eldest Princess of Xuancheng, he did not believe them.
Perhaps the eldest princess of Xuancheng was a true person and would not play those scheming things, but after marriage, who could guarantee that she would not lean towards the Xiao family? After all, in front of everyone, the eldest princess of Xuancheng did not hide her ambiguous thoughts towards Xiao Baoshu. One could imagine how much she was surging inside.
Moreover, no matter how much he trusted Xuan Cheng and Xiao Baoshu, they would not be able to plan for him.
The person whose IQwas average did not have much hope.
The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. Twenty-one days later, Consort He Shu was moved out of the palace for burial. The evidence and clues reported by Duo Fu pointed to Empress Xiao.
Emperor Yong Ping personally went to Jiaofang Palace and handed the evidence to Empress Xiao.
After the death of Provincial Governor Xiao, even though the Emperor wanted to return the power of the palace to the Empress, Empress Xiao refused repeatedly. Firstly, she was not feeling well, and secondly, she wanted to be filial to her father, so she did not leave the palace usually. She rarely even went to pay respects to the Empress Dowager.
If Empress Xiao was considered dignified and in high spirits in the past, then her slightly sallow face now made her look a lot more dispirited. Her eyes also lost their former spirit, and she looked haggard and ugly.
Emperor Yong Ping’s heart instantly softened.
Which Lil ‘Miss didn’t love beauty, this situation of Madam Xiao’s was clearly a heart injury that had yet to heal, it was exactly what he had guessed. Just like the previous time when all the evidence pointed to Imperial Concubine Chu, she had been tricked and the trouble had been diverted to the Jiaofang
Palace.
First, he had unwittingly miscarried the Empress, and now he had planted evidence on the Empress. How much did the person behind this not want Empress Xiao to stay in the palace, how much did he want to get nd of Empress
Xiao?
“Zitong, do you understand?” he asked.
Empress Xiao carefully looked at all the evidence and lowered her eyes. Her face was indescribably tired.
” Your Majesty,” she gently knelt on the ground.” It wasn’t me… I lost a child myself-.There was more than one of them, so how could they lay their hands on Consort Qi De and Consort He Shu’s child?”
“Before 1 entered the palace, my father told me that my appearance was decent, my talent was average, and only my moral character was acceptable. And moral character is the foundation of life, so that I will never forget.”
“However, the late emperor ordered His Majesty to marry me in order to balance the forces in many ways. No matter how lacking I am, as long as I don’t do anything immoral or infuriating, His Majesty will never depose the empress. I will always be the Empress.”
If the first sentence was a father’s teachings and expectations for his daughter, then the second sentence was a choice after weighing the pros and cons. Empress Xiao had told Emperor Yong Ping about the father and daughter’s plan at this time, clearly showing him all her trump cards.
As for whether he believed it or not, it was the emperor’s own choice.
“I can’t refute this evidence. However, I dare to swear to His Majesty with my conscience that it wasn’ t me. No matter how crazy I am, I am still a woman, a mother Although I didn’t give birth to the child, I will not do anything to the next child. Besides, if I say something that His Majesty doesn’t like to hear, Consort Qi De won’t be able to threaten anyone, not me. I’m the Empress of the Middle Palace, and the child I gave birth to is also the son of the First Prince. Why would I lay my hands on her…”
“Whether it’s Consort Qi De, Consort He Shu, Consort Chu, or even Consort Pan Xian which one of them is more powerful than my Xiao family in Jiankang City? I may be in charge of the harem, but in fact, there are many things that I openly obey behind my back.
Finally, she sighed.
“Your Majesty, I’m only fifteen years old, but I’ve already lost two children… I’m not in the mood to do those things…”
After saying that, he lowered his head with a tired expression. He was too lazy to argue anymore. It was up to him whether he believed it or not.
Emperor Yong Ping helped Empress Xiao up and held her hand tightly.
“We are in the same situation.” He smiled bitterly and somehow resonated with his queen.
“I am the Emperor of Daliang. But look at the surrounding families, be it the Xie family, the Xiao family, or even the Chu, Xi, and He families, which one of them wasn’t competing with each other and balancing each other? How can I make the decision?
“Zitong.”
Emperor Yong Ping looked deeply at Empress Xiao.” “If I didn’t believe you, I wouldn’t have put these in front of you.”